IBM, China, and technology

by Chris Zappone

A US group has published a report claiming IBM has sold sensitive technology to China. Like many western companies, IBM has been motivated by a desire to gain wider access to the growing market in China.

Over the past two years, IBM has engaged in a series of transactions with Chinese companies (including those with deep ties to the Chinese government and military) to support domestic Chinese development of high performance computing components, among other technologies. Now that Chinese companies have the blueprints to various IBM technologies, IBM is working with Chinese firms to implement and commercialize solutions, enabling them to build upon and develop new products that close the technological gap with the United States. By providing the Chinese with the means to perfect and innovate these sensitive, high-level technologies that enhance Chinese military capabilities and monitor Chinese citizens, IBM is endangering the national and economic security of the United States, risking the cybersecurity of their customers globally, and undermining decades of U.S. non-proliferation policies regarding high-performance computing.